Novak Djokovic walked into the semi-finals of the Wimbledon 2024 men's singles after his opponent Alex de Minaur withdrew at the last moment ahead of the quarter-final clash on Wednesday, July 10. The world no.9 de Minaur suffered a hip injury ahead of his big clash and missed out on making the semi-finals of any majors for the first time.
The Australian star revealed his frustration after withdrawing name from his maiden quarter-final at Wimbledon and said he could not risk extending his injury by playing just one game.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make, by any means,” De Minaur said at a news conference. “I'm devastated. It's no secret that, at this stage of my career, this was the biggest match of my career. So wanted to do anything I could to play. I knew what the results were yesterday, but I still wanted to wake up today and feel some sort of miracle and not feel it while I'm walking.
“The problem with me going out and playing is that one stretch, one slide, one anything, can make this injury (recovery) go from three to six weeks to four months. It's too much to risk."
Djokovic is chasing the record eighth Wimbledon title and will be facing the winner between Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Musetti who meet in the last quarter-final of the men's singles on Wednesday. The world no.5 Danill Medvedev knocked out the world no.1 Jannik Sinner and is playing the defending champions Carlos Alcaraz in the first semi-final.
Entering the top four for the 13th time, the Serbian legend is also set to equal Roger Federer's record for most semi-final appearances. The 24-time Grand Slam winner remains without a title in 2024 after a semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open and injury withdrawal from the quarter-final at Roland Garros last month.
